About John

Calgary, Alberta

I am Alberta based and love music, travel, sports and reading logic into the absurd. This blog will likely be used as a personal storehouse for remembering what we have seen and what we are planning, and want to share this with whoever is interested, which may be nobody.

My other passion is music. I love promoting Canadian music, finding new artists from anywhere and sharing what I find to be very good songs from any and all genres.

I also love sports and usually have an observation or two, and will do so on occasion.

Thanks, now I have all this extra work to do, and Christmas is just around the corner, and work is crazy and I’m losing my hair from stress and thanks very much., I appreciate that as well as your support. I am cutting and pasting this to your blog so you aren’t seeing double.

John – I nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Here are the rule for the Versatile Blogger Award:

-Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post
-Share 7 things about yourself
-Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading
-Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award

Thanks for the nomination. Forgive me if I pass as I already did this exercise once. I popped by your space and hit the old follow button, have some reading to catch up on there as well. I really appreciate the shout out though, and am glad that you enjoy what I do enough to give me a nod.

Thought I’d pass this on to you – Fritz and the Tantrums. The song is overplayed right now, but this is a very minimalist performance – Sax, 2 voices, tambourine, seems to have been recorded then edited together. Not quite live, but an impressive rendition.

Had to search for it, that one didn’t work up here. Great tune. Found a live version as well, tight band, right in my sweet spot. Man, i haven’t been on this page in a while, will have to update a bit lol.

Thanks John for following my blog. I think I’ll enjoy yours, as well. I look forward to hearing your political views. I have opinions but I’m mostly open minded and always ready to learn more. (Mostly I like to make fun of everything like my daughter, Lily in Canada! haha!)

You are Lily’s Mom. Love her blog. Also, I need to revamp my about, you will see pretty much 0 politics here. It is far to crazy a subject and not worth the effort, cause it seems everyone has tunnel vision.

Thanks Savannah, Been ripping around yours a bit and enjoy it. I started as a straight travel blog a while back and they are both the hardest and the most fun to do. Hope you don’t mind sifting through the other stuff to get to the travel stories haha.

Thanks Subhan, I took a quick trip to your blog, very nicely done. Very personable and I liked your about page. Stop by whenever you can, we love comments around here and it is very light-hearted. Enjoy

I am going to take that out of there. I am not political to a major extent, but I do tend to be on the conservative side of things on most issues. I had my liberal leanings when I was younger but discarded most of it as I got older. A Canadian conservative is, for the most part, a centrist. Does that make any sense?

Hi John, this is James from Indie Music Promo (Vancouver). I’m working with one Canadian artist I hope you’re impressed with but couldn’t find contact info for you. Feel free to email me and I’ll send you the details. Thanks very much!

Hi! Thanks for following! I’m tone deaf, but my hubs plays trombone, guitar, and ukelele. I play Adele and Christina Perri and katy Perry over and over again and cause people to ask if I’m still 13 years old. (I’m not, duh, or how else would I have a 31yrold son?)

Can someone from Calgary still call themselves an Albertan? I thought Calgary was becoming a universe unto themselves much like Toronto? Of course with me being from Edmonton, you know we are rivals in football, right? I don’t watch hockey so it doesn’t count, but I am an avid football fan. I was born in Winnipeg so I will always be a Bomber fan for life, but now I share my loyalties with the Eskimos. It gives me twice as much football to cheer for & when they play against each other I cheer for good plays!

I am a Canadian lol. I was born in Winnipeg, lived in Saskatchewan for 15 years. This is our 3rd go round in Alberta, having spent a couple of years in St Albert, and a couple in Okotoks. All in all, prefer Calgary’s climate and Saskatoon’s culture. To me the day’s were to short in Edmonton and it never got hot. (Run for cover as well). As a further run for cover, I gave up on the Bombers, and actually wore a Rider Jersey to the Banjo Bowl a few years ago. lol

John, I like your site and need to explore it further. I’ve also added it to my blogroll at http://www.OCanadaBlog.com. Two Canadian bands I highly recommend if you have not come across them are The Hidden Cameras and Great Lake Swimmers. Best, Brett

I’ll check her out. Thanks for the follow as well. Canadian music is a growth industry right now. I look forward to any tips you put out there. Se Asia is on our list but we seem to go off in tangents with our traveling. Right now, it is all about sailing. Have a great one.

Is sailing really as gloriously adventurous as one would imagine? Out on the open seas with the wind in your sails, it’s such a romantic fantasy many people dream of, I can’t help but wonder what it’s like to actually do it.

Yes. Every bit. The difficulty lies in actually liking it. Living aboard takes some sacrifice but it has its rewards. For example, you are taking your living space with you. No packing, no hostels etc. And the wind is free. We found it to be very peaceful out in the water, yet having an edge of adrenaline. It is a fun experiment so far.

Sounds like something I should give a try some day if I can manage it. How far our do you go? Do you travel great distances? When you are out there far enough, does the water ever become perfectly still?

Coastal for the mist part but a 40 or 50 mile hop between islands would not be uncommon. The idea is to pick good weather and move along the coast to the next destination and then hang around for as long as one wants to. A lazy cheap form of travel that has some benefits of home. As for still waters. Likely yes but on s sailboat that doesn’t work so well. Turns it into a powerboat.

Hi, John! Thanks for dropping by my blog and the follow. I’ve got great friends living in Alberta and I’ve seen the beauty of that place through their pictures. Following you back for inspirations and more images from everywhere. 🙂

Hi John, I like how neat your blog looks, and love love love the photos. Thanks for visiting my blog. I think my blog would be a tad too serious for your taste 😉 but I do hope you’ll enjoy my photos – I’m just beginning on that journey. Have a great week!

So John, you decided to join the small clan of Uncle Spike followers, sometimes known as The Spikey’s…. That makes me a happy blogger now – I really appreciate you making that special mouse click.
Hope you like my upcoming posts and if you get bored one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too.
If you have any likes, dislikes or suggestions about my blog, just let me know, either through ‘comments’ or via email. Always welcome reader input 🙂
Have a great old day…
UNCLE SPIKE

The Real Canadian Music Blog: The Real Canadian Music Blog

Good evening folks. This is the answer to the most asked question of the week, what is the number 1 song in Alberta, Canada this week. The answer, according to CKUA radio, available around the world at CKUA.com is ….Catfish Blues, a catchy number by BMW: Belzner, McLean, Williams. Enjoy. If you like, lots more […]

I always enjoy promoting Canadian talent, especially if they are from Calgary. Kate came to my attention in January of 2019 and I am just getting around to introducing you to her now. A bit of a brain break. Kate Stevens is singer songwriter in the story teller vein. She has a very nice voice, […]

Do you know this song? Or this one? Both were written by Allee Willis, who passed away on December 24th of heart failure. A prolific writer, she was nominated for a Tony for A Color Purple soundtrack and won a Grammy for the same as well as several other nominations and wins at […]